


A Rose by Any Other Name

by kyblsnbits



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: Bad Puns, For a Friend, Multi, Threesome - M/M/M, throws at internet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 11:36:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11161068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyblsnbits/pseuds/kyblsnbits
Summary: Set after the conclusion of Link Joker, Aichi is trying to get Kai back on his feet and decides Ren is the best person to do it. It might be the wrong decision. Fluff (Ren is very fluffy), written for a friend.





	A Rose by Any Other Name

Aichi considered the rose in his hand with a sigh. He wasn’t quite sure what he was doing here and as he kept climbing flight after flight of stairs up to the roof, the throbbing in his legs seemed like a sign. Something to the effect of “Beware: Danger ahead!” or “Turn back now!” That sort of sign. Tangling with the boy he knew would be up there was always… draining. Sometimes it was fun, Aichi had to admit, thinking back to the adrenaline of riding Blaster Blade against Blaster Dark, but he always walked away from it feeling like he had given all of himself and it hadn’t been enough. And now he was pushing that on a friend.

He stopped on the next landing to cool his head against the wall. 

Kai was back in the card shop, sometimes. Everything was supposed to be back to normal now. But it wasn’t. Not enough. The last cardfight was almost normal. The blaze in Kai’s eyes returned as he rode Dragonic Overlord and dealt three damage in one turn. The next turn Aichi beat him, though, and Kai went back to the closed, dark shell of his former self.

Aichi didn’t know what to do.

Miwa didn’t know what to do, and that was even worse.

Aichi didn’t understand what Kai was feeling, try as he might. However, he thought he might know someone who did.

That, he took a deep breath and reinforced the idea, that WAS more important than anything else. It was far more important than Aichi’s feelings. He pushed himself away from the wall and kept climbing.

He pushed open the door at the top and had to block his eyes against the sun brushing the horizon. There really was a great view up here. He looked around and quickly found the fluffy red hair of the one he was looking for.

“Ren-san!” he called, trotting over to him.

“Hello, Aichi-kun,” Ren said, turning with a smile. “You came up all those stairs to see me? I’m honored! What brings you all the way up here?”

He looked at the rose clutched in Aichi’s hand and raised his eyebrows.

“So forward of you, Aichi-kun,” Ren said slowly.

Aichi suddenly realized what this looked like and froze. He watched stunned as Ren plucked the rose from his outstretched hand and brought it to his nose. “Aichi-kun…” Ren said, eyes closed.

Aichi tried to find the words to stop this misunderstanding, but hadn’t quite figured it out when Ren’s eyes snapped open. Aichi’s train of thought disappeared under an avalanche in the heat of those red eyes.

“I don’t know if you know what you are asking, Aichi-kun,” Ren purred, drawing the rose gently down Aichi’s face. Aichi blushed, his thoughts far gone at this point. “You’re still naive, so much a child…” he muttered to himself a bit, tapping the rose absentmindedly on Aichi’s forehead. “How about this. If you can beat me in a cardfight, I’ll consider it.” He turned his gaze back to Aichi. Aichi gulped. Ren’s gaze could best be described as someone eyeing a particularly delicious looking dessert. “I’ll be fighting my hardest of course, Aichi-kun. My affection is something you have to earn.”

“Wait!” Aichi finally managed, shoving the note in his other hand at Ren. “You misunderstand, this isn’t from me!”

Ren’s face fell a fraction, but he recovered so quickly that Aichi wasn’t sure he wasn’t making that up.

“No, Aichi-kun?” he said playfully. “But now you wish it was, don’t you?” Aichi could feel the blush rise higher. Ren chuckled and turned to read the note.

Aichi breathed deeply and hoped Ren wouldn’t see that the note actually was from him.

_“Meet me,”_ it said, _“at 4pm at the coffee shop. Don’t keep me waiting. Kai”_

Aichi had gone for short and sweet, to the point, just like he thought Kai would write for himself. Of course, Kai would never actually write this sort of letter, but that was the whole gamble. 

Ren walked away, pacing along the edge of the roof. “Thank you for bringing me this, Aichi-kun,” he called back. “You can go now.”

Aichi stared at the retreating white uniform. Had it worked? Or had he messed everything up again? No, he remembered the way they had looked at each other during that final battle under the Link Joker ring. He didn’t think he was making things worse…

“Ren-san?” he asked as Ren paced back towards him. “Do you have an answer for him?”

Ren turned those red eyes on him. Aichi shrank back and found himself bumping against the edge of the roof. Aichi looked down to see that Ren had grasped the railing at his side.

Ren dragged the rose in his other hand along Aichi’s neck, halting it under his chin when Aichi looked back up at him. “Run along now, Aichi-kun,” he hissed, “unless you do want to see where this goes?” He flicked the flower against Aichi’s skin playfully. “I bet you do…”

“No!” Aichi squeaked. “That’s not why I’m here! I’ll… I’ll go!” He slid out from under Ren and made for the stairs. He looked back, as he caught his breath at the door, to see Ren still at the rail, staring out at the horizon. Aichi left him there. He had to hope Ren would give Kai an answer. Time for the second part of his plan.

Not long after, Aichi happened upon the right bench in the park - the one with Kai sprawled across it, staring at his phone. He nudged Kai’s leg, who, with minimal grumbling, adjusted himself such that Aichi could sit next to him.

“Aichi...” he said slowly, turning the phone screen toward him, “do you recognize this number?”

Aichi looked down at the phone. “I’ll meet you at the coffee shop at five,” Aichi read out loud. He considered his options. On one hand, he was very glad that the message so easily could be taken on its own. On the other, now he was faced with a dilemma: did he tell Kai who it was from? Or did he think the mystery was more likely to get Kai there in the right mindset? It would be easy to get Kai there expecting to fight… in fact, that had been his original plan. This might work better, though. If Kai wasn’t expecting anything in particular, maybe he would talk things out with Ren better.

“I-I don’t know, Kai,” he said. “I don’t recognize it.” He showed the number search on his phone, which of course came up blank. He did not have Ren’s number. “It might be important, though, so you should go.”

Kai looked back down at the phone. “Do you think it’s a challenge?” he asked.

“I don’t think it sounds like a challenge, Kai,” Aichi said.

Kai considered. “I’m still bringing my deck.”

“I’m sure no one would expect anything else from you.”

* * *

Kai arrived at the coffee shop a few minutes before five. He ordered a cup of coffee and took the seat furthest from the door. He wasn’t sure if he would know who was coming through the door to meet him, but he didn’t want to be taken by surprise.

* * *

Aichi pulled up the hood of his coat to hide his distinctive blue hair. Fortunately, Miwa had handed the coat over with his blessing once Aichi told him his plan. Aichi found a good seat at one of the tables outside the coffee shop. If he leaned forward, he could just peer in through the window. He saw Kai in the back, and sat back. He kept his head down as Ren walked by and thought he had probably escaped notice. He leaned forward to watch the scene unfold.

* * *

Ren considered the bouquet of poppies in his hand. That rose had been very out of place, but if Kai were ever to ask someone out, well… it seemed like the sort of thing he would do. Asking someone, however, was very out of character. He wondered what could have brought Kai to that point, if indeed it was truly him behind the note. He was skeptical, but he didn’t want to write it off completely. He wondered what he would have to do to figure it all out. He grinned. He was going to have fun with this.

He had seen that familiar hoodie on the way in. He knew Miwa was watching.

He pulled open the coffee shop door. He would treat Kai well, such that Miwa would have no issue with his conduct. He always did. What Kai did to himself, why, he could hardly be blamed for that.

He scanned the room and quickly saw Kai in the back. He was sitting, sipping from a mug, staring daggers at the door. He glanced at Ren, but back towards the door when Ren had made it through.

Ren made his way over to him.

“Kai,” he said in greeting as he sat down with him.

“Ren,” Kai said, and went back to staring at the door.

Ren placed the flowers in front of him. “What a way to treat a guy you’re trying to woo.”

Kai looked at the flowers. “What?”

Ren blinked at him slowly. Of course the guy was clueless. “Today, I had a very interesting day, Kai. Want to hear about it?”

Kai considered. “I’m waiting for someone.”

Ren met his eyes. “Strange. I’m waiting for someone myself. Someone very focused, intense – in an attractive way, of course. Someone…” Ren shook his head. There was no way to land the joke with Kai. He’d have to be blunter. “My date. I’m waiting for my date.”

Kai just looked at him.

“You see, just today I was given a message from a friend asking me to coffee. This is innocuous in its own right, but, tellingly, it also came with a brilliant red rose.”

Kai was still uncomprehending.

“So, I responded. I told them to meet me here at five. Tell me, are you meeting me here at five?”

Kai looked at his phone. “That was you?”

Ren nodded sagely.

Kai looked at Ren, then looked at his phone again. “Oh.”

Ren rolled his eyes. “I should have known the invitation didn’t come from you. There’s no way you could have sent something like that. I don’t think you’re capable.”

Kai looked up at that. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ren shrugged, keeping the smile off of his face. “Well, you’re not romantic. I would say, in fact, that I am far more romantic than you.”

Kai glared at him.

Ren toyed innocently with the poppies in front of him. “You know, why don’t we make it a challenge? I think… I can kiss better than you. Shall we put it to the test?”

Ren was expecting some intensity, but instead Kai closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “No,” he said. “I’m not letting you goad me into this sort of thing again, especially not when you’re just making fun of me.” He got up to leave.

* * *

Aichi bit his thumbnail. It didn’t look like it was going well. Kai still seemed so lifeless, and now it looked like he was going to walk away. Aichi didn’t want to be glad about it, but… he thought he might be just a little bit glad. If he was careful, he could probably catch Kai as he left and talk to him.

* * *

Kai looked down at Ren, skeptical of this whole setup. He was so tired, tired of being beaten, tired of being feared, tired of being talked about behind his back. At least Ren was here, speaking to him directly but… Kai sighed. What even was this? He had been intrigued, just a little bit, by the message. It could have been something interesting. And if Ren had just challenged him to a card fight like usual, it might have even been worth getting excited about.

He raised his hand to his head. Instead, here was Ren poking at his emotions like usual. Nothing to be surprised by.

He felt a warm hand on his, gently tugging it away from his face. He looked down at Ren to see… the oddest expression he had ever seen on that face.

“I’m not making fun of you, Kai,” Ren said softly.

Kai stared. How could Ren look so sincerely lost and forlorn like that? It just wasn’t fair. How could he look so… inviting? Was this just another trick?

Kai sat back down. Rather, he tried to collapse as gracefully into the chair as he possibly could.

Ren’s mouth quirked to the side and Kai couldn’t stop staring. “I mean, I really do think I can kiss better than you,” he said, back to his lighthearted self.

Fuck.

Everything.

Kai slammed his fist on the table.

“I challenge you–” he was cut off.

* * *

Aichi saw that Ren had talked Kai back into his seat. Kai was getting worked up about something, which was… better than nothing. He cringed when Kai banged his fist on the table, but when he looked back up – he squeaked. Ren was out of his seat, grabbing Kai’s face with both hands (a small voice in the back of his mind noted that it was forceful, but careful, and he might like to have his face grabbed like that… Aichi cut that voice off in an instant), and bringing his face down to meet it.

Aichi felt the blood rise to his face, but he couldn’t stop watching. This was what he wanted, wasn’t it?

Ren’s hands moved from Kai’s face into his hair and Kai responded in kind, digging the fingers of one hand into Ren’s fluffy bangs, the other grabbing the knot of his tie.

Aichi stood, transfixed.

He grit his teeth. This was what he wanted, this was what he wanted. Couldn’t they have waited just a little bit? Couldn’t they have gone somewhere else? This was what he wanted.

Ren pulled back just a bit, revealing that Kai had caught his bottom lip between his teeth.

Aichi was done with this. Was this what he wanted? Well, he was going to get what he wanted.

* * *

Kai looked up into the fiery – no, THE crimson eyes of the one standing over him. He couldn’t help but let his gaze travel down, down the long white neck, past the edge of the black shirt, now open a few buttons, down further… to the familiar gleam of the deck box in Ren’s hand.

Kai felt a sharp tug at the back of his neck as Ren fingers twined in his hair and forced him to look up, back into those eyes. “Are you ready to take the full force of my power?” Ren asked with a slow grin.

Kai’s own deck was out in an instant. He knew that was the only response he needed to give.

Suddenly, Kai felt a warm hand over his as it remained on his deck box. He blinked at the force from the blue-haired boy that appeared at his side. Aichi was dragging him out of the coffee shop. Ren was pushed out in front of him, looking a slight bit more confused than amused for once. Aichi didn’t stop moving them along until they made it to the park, in a secluded nook of fence and bushes.

Aichi glared at them with his hands on his hips, but Kai noticed the pink of his deck box in one hand. He was here for more than just a lecture, then.

“Didn’t your mothers teach you not to whip your decks out at the table?!” Aichi demanded. “I’m going to have to teach both of you a lesson!”

**Author's Note:**

> *Misaki and Miwa sitting in the back of the coffee shop clink their mugs together*
> 
> Yes, hello, did I write all this just to make deck jokes?  
> …..yup
> 
> XOXO –Kybl


End file.
